Anti-skid container trays



Jan. 20, 1970 w. H. cooK ANT I SKID CONTAINER TRAY S I Filed Nov. 5.1967 I N VEN TOR. MAL/4M 6, 000

United States Patent US. Cl. 206-65 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREA method and means for unitizing palletized loads of cartons or trays ofglassware of the type wherein the contained bottles, jars or the likehave their upper portions extending above the level of the sides of thecartons so that the bottoms of the cartons are placed directly upon theglass finishes when stacking. A thin coating of a rubber-like or latexmaterial is sprayed, extruded, brushed, or rolled on the undersides ofthe cartons, and on the sides if desired, to provide a non-marring andnonskid surface which frictionally contacts the rims of the glasswareand prevents sliding or relative movement between the cartons in thepalletized load. The coating is also effective with closures on theglassware and may be applied in various patterns as desired providingthat the areas of the uncoated portions are smaller than the areasincluded within the contacting surfaces.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to theunitizing of palletized loads and more particularly to a method andmeans for preventing the shifting of stacked cartons of glasswarewherein the bottoms of the cartons are placed directly on the exposedupper surfaces of the glassware which extend above the carton sides.

A long standing problem in connection with the handling and shipping ofpalletized loads of stacked packages or cartons has been the maintenanceof the composite load in a unitized condition. As the coefficient offriction between the surfaces of the cartons is generally comparativelylow, the individual units or packages within the total load have atendency to move relative to each other in response to the variousaccelerations to which the load may be subjected during handling andshipping. If this relative displacement becomes large enough the loadmay disintegrate and collapse resulting in damage to the individualpackages and their contents and possible injury to bystanders.

Many diverse methods have been used in the past to maintain thesepalletized loads in a unitized condition. The overall loads have beentied about their peripheries with chains or straps to hold theindividual cartons in place or various stakes or side pieces have beenused on the pallet to prevent shifting of the cartons thereon. Inaddition to the many methods for containing the overall load, variousattempts have been made to prevent the localized .moving of the cartonsrelative to each other by the application of glues and adhesives to thesurfaces of the individual cartons; by taping of the cartons together:and by the application of non-skid tape strips to their surfaces. Also,sheets of non-skid material have been placed between the cartons to holdthem in place.

ice

While these diverse methods have had varying success depending on thetypes of materials and loads to which they have been applied, thesemethods have had little success when used in connection with loads ofthe type comprising cartons of glassware wherein the upper portions ofthe bottles or jars, or the like extend above the sides of the cartonsso that the bottoms of the cartons are placed directly upon the glassrims therebeneath when stacking. This glass to carton surface interfaceposes peculiar problems since the use of a glue or adhesive, which wouldadhere to the rims of the glassware, is undesirable and an abrasivematerial which would mar the finishes is similarly unacceptable. Anynon-skid material which might be used in this application must also bechemically inert so as not to contaminate the rims or interiors of theglassware which for the most part is used to package edible products.

Prior attempts to solve this particular problem have generally consistedof constructing the undersides of the cartons with extensions orinterlocking means to grip the glassware but this requires speciallyconstructed cartons and special handling which add to the expense andtime involved in the shipping operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Applicant has devised an improved andinexpensive method and means which solves the long standing problempeculiar to palletized loads of stacked cartons of exposed glassware byusing a thin rubber-like coating which is sprayed, rolled or brushed onthe underside of the cartons prior to stacking and which provides asurface of sufficient friction to prevent the shifting of the cartonsrelative to each other while avoiding any contamination or damage to theglassware therein.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide animproved method and means of unitizing palletized loads of glassware.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a unitizedpackage of cartons of glassware with improved handling and shippingcapabilities.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive,labor saving method of unitizing palletized loads without the need forspecial equipment or handling.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a means forrendering the individual cartons to be used in a palletized load asresistant to relative shifting with respect to adjacent cartons andcapable of continuous re-use.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide such a meanswhich may be used with standard cartons now in use without the need forany special construction.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon anunderstanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, orwill be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages notreferred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employmentof the invention in practice.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment of theinvention has been chosen for purposes of illustrating and descriptionand is shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thespecification, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a palletized load of cartons containing glassware of thetype to be used with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a showing of a preferred method of applying the improvednon-skid coating of the present invention wherein the coating is sprayedon;

FIG. 3 shows a finished carton resulting from the method of FIG. 2 whenused with an apertured mask;

FIG. 4 is a showing of another method of applying the improved non-skidcoating of the present invention Wherein the coating is extruded througha suitable tool onto the underside of the carton;

FIG. 5 shows a finished carton resulting from the use of a slotted maskduring the coating application; and

FIG. 6 is a partial exploded sectional view of the interface between thecarton undersides and the upper surfaces of the glassware with andwithout a closure and including the improved coating resulting from thepresent invention.

DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION FIG. 1 shows a package 1 comprising apalletized load of stacked cartons of glassware of the type to be usedwith and which results from the use of the method and means of thepresent invention. The glassware is shown in the figure as beveragebottles 2 such as used to contain beer or soft drinks but any type ofglass jar or other container might also be used in connection with thepresent invention. The stacked units in this palletized load are cartonsor beverage trays 3 which contain a number of bottles 2 arranged in rowstherein with their upper portions extending above the sides of the trays3. As the upper portions of the glassware are exposed in normalhandling, when these units are to be stacked it is necessary to placethe bottoms of the trays 3 directly on the glass rims or finishes of theware immediately beneath. Since the glassware normally has a smooth andcomparatively slippery surface and is often covered with a protectivelubricating coating it is particularly difficult to prevent the cartons3 from readily moving or sliding thereon. This is a very undesirablefeature in the handling and shipping of these units as it becomes moredifficult to unitize, that is, maintain a compact load, when the unitsare stacked one upon the other on a shipping pallet such as is shown at4.

The prior methods described above for maintaining a compact load such asplacing chains or straps about the periphery of the load require a greatdeal of equipment and in addition are fairly time consuming in assemblyand disassembly. Also, the special trays that have been designed havingextensions and interlocking arrangements on the undersides to fit overand grip the upper surfaces of the glassware again require the expenseof specially constructing the trays or cartons.

Applicant has found that by applying a thin, rubberlike coating 5 to theunderside of the cartons 3 a sufiicient unitizing effect is achievedwhich prevents relative shifting of the units in the load under normalhandling and shipping conditions.

A particular rubber-like friction material which has been found to besuitable in this application is a solution containing a synthetic latex.This coating which before application is an aqueous solution of asynthetic latex containing between 39 to 41% of solids and having aviscosity of 8/ 10,000 centipoise, has been found to dry afterapplication within twenty seconds. It is obtainable commercially fromRubber Latex Company of America of Clifton, New Jersey, under the tradename Sta-Put L-ll2.

FIG. 2 shows this latex material 10 being applied to the underside of aglassware carton 3 by the use of a sprayer 6 but it may be appliedequally well by extruding, brushing, or rolling the liquid solution onto the surface of the carton material. The application by an extrudingtool 8 is shown in FIG. 4. If desired it may also be ap- .4 plied to thesides of the cartons as at 9 in FIG. 2 to help prevent relative movementbetween adjacent cartons.

The coating is preferably applied in a fine spray forming a thincontinuous film layer over the underside of the carton. However, it iswithin the purview of the present invention to utilize various patternsof the coating on the carton surface. A mask 11 containing holes 12 in acircular pattern or the like may be placed over the surface beforespraying and upon removal thereafter leaves the coating pattern shown inFIG. 3 with the dotted lines 1 3 indicating where the rims of theglassware contact the carton surface. A lined surface 18 or a strippattern 14 might also be used as respectively shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.When applied in this manner to the underside of the cartons the areas ofthe uncoated portions should be less than the area comprehended by oneof the rims of the glassware to be used in connection therewith. Thiswill insure against any slippage which might occur by having the rims ofthe glassware contacting nothing but the uncoated surface of thecartons. The lines in FIG. 4 may be fiat or form ridges or may be spreadafter application to form a continuous surface.

The cartons 3 may be of any suitable material used in the constructionof such items, for example, paperboard or wood to which the rubber-likefilm 5 will adhere and the thickness of the film or coating willgenerally be dependent upon the particular requirements of the load towhich it is being applied. Ordinarily a relatively thin layer isdesirable and will sufiice.

FIG. 6 shows the improved rubber-like friction coating 5 of the presentinvention acting in the interface between a paperboard carton bottom 15and the upper portions of beverage bottles 2 on which the carton hasbeen placed. The bottle 2 on the left is provided with a closure 16while the one on the right has its finish in direct contact with thecoating 5. It will be seen that a non-skid surface has been created onthe bottom 15 of the carton 3 which will not mar or contaminate theglass while providing sufficient friction to prevent relative movementbetween the carton 3 and the glassware 2.

Tests of palletized loads of this type embodying the present inventionhave been quite successful even with the presence of protective coatingssuch as monostearate and polyethylene on the glass finishes. Nosignificant latex or carton fibre residue was detected on the bottlefinishes and the friction coating has been found to be effective withfilled bottles as well.

It will thus be seen that a simple and inexpensive method and means isprovided by the applicants use of a thin, rubber-like coating on theunderside of glassware cartons that are to be stacked in a palletizedload on the upper rims of the glassware contained beneath, whichproduces an improved unitized package without requiring complicated andexpensive equipment and time consuming assembling and disassembling ofthe load.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangementof the parts and in the steps of the method herein without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention and without sacrificing anyof its advantages, it is to be understood that all matter herein is tobe interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a palletized load of glassware-containing trays in which thebottoms of the trays are placed upon the tops of the gla sware theimprovement comprising a non-skid rubber-like material adhered to theouter surface of the undersides of the cartons, the rubber-like materialcomprising an aqueous solution of synthetic latex containing between 39to 41% of solids and having a viscosity of %0,000 centipoise, saidmaterial being applied in a discontinuous pattern with the uncoatedportions being of such dimensions as to contact only a portion of eachof the glassware tops.

2. The palletized load as claimed in claim 1 in which said material isadhered in the form of generally circular spots.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Bomberger 20665 CuflE et a1.206-2 Borgstrorn.

Hotchner 19041 Salzenbrodt 22069 10 Martin 20665 Jones et a1. 206--62Scholl 11710 Levine 220-21 5 WILLIAM T. DIXSON, J 11., Primary ExaminerUS. Cl. X.R.

